Fiduciary Duty To Creditors During “Zone of Insolvency.”

Francis Pileggi at the Delaware Litigation Blog has posted a summary of comments made by Delaware Supreme Court Chief Justice Myron Steele at the Spring meeting of the American Bar Association, concerning developments in Delaware corporate law and recent Delaware Supreme Court cases. Francis credits Mark Saltzburg with the summary of the speech. I have included only a short excerpt here:

First, Chief Justice Steele noted that the Delaware Supreme Court had just heard argument in the Trenwick America Litigation Trust litigation that may result in a decision on whether creditors may bring a cause of action for violation of fiduciary duty where a company deepens its insolvency in a way that further damages creditors after any residual interest of shareholders is out of the picture. Typically, fiduciary duties are only owed by directors to shareholders and not to creditors. Steele noted, however, that in an earlier decision by former Delaware Court of Chancery Chancellor William Allen in the Credit Lyonnais case, the court commented that directors may owe creditors a fiduciary duty where a company is in the vicinity of insolvency.

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About Scott Riddle

Scott Riddle has over twenty years’ experience in bankruptcy, business, and real estate litigation and has represented individuals and businesses throughout Georgia and several other states. Scott graduated from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a BSBA in 1987 and received his JD, with honors, in 1991 from the UNC School of Law. After graduation from law school, Scott clerked for two years for Judge W. Homer Drake, Jr., United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Georgia. He then spent several years in the bankruptcy and litigation sections of a large international law firm based in Atlanta prior to starting his own firm.